Red Fingerprints
by Cate Eliot
Summary: On her first day at the CBI, Grace Van Pelt learns just what kind of person consultant Patrick Jane is, the relationship he holds with her new boss, the mysterious and guarded Teresa Lisbon, and what it means to be a part of the Serious Crimes Family. Now Complete.
1. Chapter I: In Which She Hears the Rumors

**A/N: All characters, cases, and locations belong to Bruno Heller, CBS, and affiliates. Please review.**

On her first day at the CBI, Grace Van Pelt felt overly nervous. She couldn't sleep the night before, proceeded to spill coffee down her skirt before getting in the car, then got lost on the way to the CBI office.

By the time she finally got to Minelli's office, she felt like the butterflies in her stomach were trying to eat themselves out of her stomach.

"You must be Grace Van Pelt. Welcome to the CBI," the man said, rising behind the desk. He was balding with brown eyes that looked her over once as he walked towards her.

"Can you walk and listen? Good." She opened her mouth to reply, but closed it as the man walked down the stairs with her hastening to follow.

He wore a black suit and scuffed shoes. He was dressed in a white undershirt that had small crinkles in it front sitting behind the desk. He also had a shiny gold badge strapped onto the waistband of his belt.

"The press are all over us for the mess up regarding the screwed over double homicide in narcotics. We're drowning with paperwork and complaints. I reviewed your transcript. Impressive for someone right out of training. I've put you on Lisbon's team with Serious Crimes. I don't normally put rookies on a higher up team, but Lisbon will look after you until you find your feet."

They reached the end of the staircase and the boss was swarmed by a woman in high heels and a head full of curly hair. She had a pad of paper on her arm, her phone in between two fingers, and a blue tooth stuck in her ear.

"Virgil. The press are outside and they won't leave without a statement. Bosco, Lisbon, and Harger already railroaded me. You're up in three minutes."

The man opened his mouth and his eyes darted over to the red head next to him. He sighed and turned back to the woman.

"Hold on Brenda, I need to hand the rookie over to Lisbon bef—"

"No time," the woman cut off, not even looking over at Van Pelt. "We need to go over the facts before the cameras roll. The CBI cannot afford another media mess on this front."

"I—fine. Hicks, Hicks!" he called over to the tall, dark skinned man standing near the coffee machine with another man. Both were well dressed and discussing something in whispers, when they turned towards Minelli.

"Sir?"

"You and Dyson, take Van Pelt here to Lisbon and tell Bosco I want an update on his capital case by lunch while I go play monkey for the presses."

"Of course, boss."

The other man, Dyson, was taller than Hicks and sported scruffle across his cheek. His hazel eyes looked her up and down before holding a hand out, gesturing down the hallway.

"Shall we?"

Van Pelt managed a smile and adjusted her laptop bag on her shoulder before following them. She focused hard on not tripping in her new leather shoes she chose for her first day as a 'real' detective.

"So Lisbon's team huh?"

"Uh, yes," she said with a nervous smile. "Are you part of the Serious Crimes Team, Agent Hicks?"

Both men snorted.

"Thank god, no," Hicks said, shoving a hand into pockets as they walked. Van Pelt gave them a confused glance. He suddenly looked less professional than she had originally realized looking at him from across the way.

"I'm sorry?" she questioned, hesitantly.

Dyson smirked at his partner and began to explain.

"Lisbon's team is going downhill. They're all a real mess, a bunch of misfit that Minelli threw together."

"How so?"

She really hated office gossip. It was one of the reason she left her small town home in Iowa for the big city and the CBI.

"Cho's an ex-gang member and violent. No one would work with him because he had a record, so Lisbon took him. Rigsby's a big oaf, that's going nowhere but down in his career. Their old member, Hanagan, couldn't keep his hands off a bottle to save his life. Almost got Lisbon shot his last week on the job after showing up drunk, _again_.

"Lisbon's bad ass. A great agent, no doubt. She was going somewhere big. But Jane, their _consultant_, causes more trouble than he's worth."

"A consultant?" Grace questioned, trying to keep her face emotionless as they walked down the hallway filled with labeled doors and large open bull pens.

"He used to make his living pretending to be a psychic until Red John killed his family. Been with the CBI ever since. He closes cases. That's the only reason the boss puts up with his crap. He's dragging the team down with him. They couldn't get any other team to keep him so Minelli threw him on Lisbon's squad. She's the only one that can control him."

Her eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. _Control him?_ Just what team had Minelli put her on?

"Rumor has it they're having a hot, wild affair, secretly engaged, or he's going to sacrifice her to Red John to finally catch the SOB. I think it's the first. There's no way she could get him to behave any other way," Hicks continued, "speaking of disaster squad, here comes _Bert_ now."

A large man, maybe in his early thirties stopped in front of the group from a large bullpen. He was tall and muscular wearing an office suit minus the jacket. His light brown hair was short, but caught the light making it look light than it actually was.

"What are you doing here, Hicks? Dyson?" the man growled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Just delivering this pretty little one to Saint Lisbon for Minelli," Dyson said stiffly.

"Right, I can take it from here."

Grace bit her lip as the two agents stalked off the way they came and the man, Rigsby, turned to her and smiled. His frightening and anger filled façade faded and it was replaced with a polite and kind face.

"Sorry about them. They're always looking for trouble with somebody. I'm Wayne. Wayne Rigsby."

She smiled and shook his outstretched hand.

"Grace Van Pelt."

"Welcome to the CBI, Agent Van Pelt. Lisbon's office is right this way."


	2. Chapter II: In Which She Meets the Team

**A/N: All characters, cases, and locations belong to Bruno Heller, CBS, and affiliates. Please review.**

When she was beckoned into her new boss' office, the woman behind the desk was not what she expected. She waved Van Pelt in, her shoulder pressing her slender phone against her ear as she scribbled down something on the notepad next to her desk.

"Yeah. Okay. Thanks, sir."

She ripped out the paper and silently held it out towards Rigsby who didn't hesitate to take it from her hand.

"Yes, we will be right on it. No thank you."

She rolled her eyes as she hung up and set the phone on the desk with a frustrated growl. "Take that to Cho, Rigsby. You must be the new agent."

"Grace Van Pelt, ma'am," she said confidently, holding her hand out with a smile.

Lisbon's nose wrinkled slightly at the strange address and stood, taking the offered hand. When Grace caught sight of her dark jeans and classy leather jacket, she immediately felt overdressed.

As she sat down in front of the woman, she tried to discreetly suck the shiny red lip gloss off her lips in mortification.

She had spent a lot of time in trying to pick out her outfit for her day. She had decided on a lavender tee shirt with ruffles on the front and a gray blazer with long, ironed dress pants. She tried her hair in three different styles before braiding in down her back with a black rubber band. Her outfit was completed with a pair of large diamond studs her parents had got for her when she left Iowa.

She had wanted to seem professional without being too masculine. She knew there weren't many female officer in law enforcement, even at the CBI. But she didn't want to play down her looks too much. She wanted to be a least comfortable at her new job without hiding behind baggy clothing.

She refocused her attention on the woman in front of her. She was young, she realized, much younger than she had expected. She was many in her early to mid-thirties.

"…which will last for about two months. Then we'll proceed to a more permanent contract if your performance meets the standards. I reviewed your file and everything seems to in order. I've been looking for someone to meet the more technological post. I've had Cho and Rigsby on it, but it will be nice to have someone that's more familiar with all the new technology. You'll find we're behind on the FBI on that front."

She reached for her desk drawer and pulled out a sheaved Glock and a shiny badge. Van Pelt smiled at the sight of the badge.

"These are yours. Feel free to choose and desk and get set up. Have Cho and Rigsby brief you on our current case."

There was a clear dismissal in her tone and Van Pelt jerked to her feet, knocking the front of the desk as she went. She winced in embarrassment and turned red as she hurried into the bullpen.

She was greeted by Wayne Rigsby's smile.

"Hey," he greeted her as she sat her bag and laptop sleeve down on the first empty desk she saw. "I'll introduce you to rest of the team."

He got up from his desk in front of hers and gestured to the rest of the people in the corner of the bullpen. "Agent Van Pelt, this is Agent Kimbell Cho."

"You must be the new agent." The Asian man said, watching her as she gave him a small smile.

"Hi I'm Grace," she said, trying to regain the confidence she lost in Lisbon's office.

He was short, but sturdy. His eyes analyzed her calmly from the desk in the middle of the room. He had a large novel on the side of his desk that was otherwise littered with open and closed manila folders.

"Cho," he said without inflection before glancing back down at the folders on his desk.

"That over there is Jane, our consultant. Don't agree to any of his plans without going over it with Lisbon," he added in an undertone as he pointed over to a man in a three piece suit, asleep on the ratty old couch in the corner.

"Jane, aren't you going to meet our new team mate?"

The man perked into a sitting position, his blue eyes alert. He smiled a charming, white smile and stood up. "Hello Grace. I'm Patrick Jane. Pleasure to meet you," he said shaking her hand before reseating himself on his couch, this time upright.

"Nice to meet you too," Grace said, the man easing her a little more than the other agent.

Jane continued to observe her with a strange sort of stare. He was about Lisbon's age, she decided, with an attractive head of blonde curls and an old fashioned gray three piece suit.

As she reseated herself at her desk, she felt Jane's eyes follow her movements. It was unnerving and she turned back towards him.

"Is everything all right, Mister Jane?"

"Oh yes, I think so. A Libra, yes?" he questioned leaning back on the old cushion.

She heard Rigsby groan under his breath.

"Yes, how did you know that?"

"I used to be a pretend pyshic," he said with a shrug.

She frowned, recalling Dyson's words to her on the way to Lisbon's office.

"You came from a moderately wealthy family. One…no two older sisters who got married early in life. Happy family life, but from a small town. You wanted to get away and make a change in the world, which is why you've come to CBI," he continued.

"Cut it out, Jane," Rigsby said, crossly.

"Just assessing our latest team member, Rigsby," he said, not taking his eyes off Grace. He smiled again and settled back in the cushions. "Anyone seen Lisbon?"

"She's in her office. The brass just called her again about the case," Cho said, scribbling something in his notes.

"Agent Lisbon said you guys could catch me up on the case you're working on," Van Pelt said, opening her laptop and turning towards the group.

"Of course," Rigsby said eagerly and began to outline their current murder. After going over the facts, two bodies, a mother and son, found abandoned in a warehouse, executed by beheading, no trace, she found herself swallowing thickly.

This was what she had to look forward to.

"We're just going over the witness statements again to see if anything will pop."

"It won't," Jane offered as he laid back down on the couch. "Hi Lisbon."

The brunette came into the room, not bothering to respond to the man's comment. "Still nothing from forensics. Buckle down, everyone. It's going to be a long night," Lisbon said crossly.


	3. Chapter III: In Which Cho Smiles

**A/N: All characters, cases, and locations belong to Bruno Heller, CBS, and affiliates. Thanks for all the responses and comments. I really appreciate them! Please review.**

It was dark by the time Grace looked up from her computer again. They had been working tirelessly for the last five hours and nothing had popped. She had helped Wayne-_Rigby's_ she corrected herself-go over statements and look up different files for the rest of the team.

However, she was much more interested in watching her new boss and their consultant. The two had been bantering back and forth all evening, even after the man had gone back to sleep on his couch, not bother to help.

Lisbon was obviously at home with the boys. Something Van Pelt wish she had enough confidence for. But the sexual tension between boss and consultant were almost too much for the room limits.

"This is ridiculous," Lisbon growled, slamming another file shut and shoving in across the table away from her.

Jane popped up from the couch and came to stand behind Lisbon, looking over her shoulder, at another open file.

"When was the last time you ate, my dear?" he asked soothingly. Rigsby's head perked up at the exchange as he stretched in his chair.

"I had breakfast," Lisbon protested.

"Coffee does not count as food, woman. That's it, were going out for dinner. Now. Let's go." He grabbed her leather jacket from the chair and all but forced her to stand up from the chair.

"Jane," she said dangerously as he moved her hair out of the way. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

Rigsby chortled under his breath, but Van Pelt thought it was sweet. Cho's mouth upturned a little at the corners, but he kept looking over his interviews.

"I'm feeding you, Lisbon, you know something you're supposed to do yourself three times a day."

He pulled his own jacket on. "Well, Cho, Rigsby, Grace, are you all coming or what? I've heard the Chinese place down the road has great egg rolls."

Van Pelt watched Rigsby grin widely. "I'm in!"

***CBI***

The Chinese restaurant was busy as the team walked in. They were seated at a back table with dim lighting. Jane thanked the old Chinese woman in Chinese as they all sat down, Jane next to Lisbon and Van Pelt across from him.

"I didn't know you spoke Chinese, Jane," Rigsby said as he sat down next to Van Pelt.

"Of a little here and there," he said evasively. "Oh look Lisbon, eggrolls!"

Van Pelt hid a smile at his childlike excitement. "Okay, what's with Hicks and Dyson calling me Bert?" Rigsby asked after they had all ordered.

"No idea," Jane said with a shrug, messing with his newly delivered chop sticks.

"Boss, you're worked with Bosco before. I mean what is up with him and his team. It's like they are seriously out to get me."

"How would I know, Rigs?"

"You worked with Agent Bosco?" Van Pelt asked interestedly as she looked at her new boss.

"Back at the SFPD," Lisbon said shortly. "He and I were on the same team before I moved to the CBI."

"She means before Minelli stole her out from under them," Cho said with an eyebrow raised mysteriously.

The conversation was cut off by the arrival of their food and Van Pelt decided to forego chopsticks and settled on eating her slightly sauced chicken with a fork.

"Stole her?"

"Yeah. Convinced her to come and work for him at the CBI after she kept cracking all the SFPD cases too fast."

"Shut up, Cho."

Jane and Rigsby both smirked. "Hicks and Dyson call us Bert and Ernie. You know from the Muppets."

"You knew and you didn't tell me!" Rigsby said, frustrated.

"I knew it would bother you," Cho said shortly, taking a sip of water to wash down his rice.

"Doesn't it bother you?"

"No. Ernie is the handsome, clever one."

Van Pelt watched as both Lisbon and Jane hid their smiles behind their noodles. Rigsby rolled his eyes. "I mean is a little professionalism really too much to ask? They act like they're in first grade with their stupid nicknames and pranks."

"Maybe you should call them Laa-Laa and Tinky Winky, you know from the teletubbies."

Even Cho smiled widely at that. For the first time since she had arrived at the CBI, she felt secure. It quickly faded as they began to run theories of the latest case.

As they talked, Jane stolen Lisbon's straw out of her tea and began twisting it. She simply rolled her eyes in response. She caught Grace's slightly confused look.

"If it keeps him occupied, he can have it."

She laughed and Jane winked at her.

She decided to go out on a limb and ask him a question that had been bugging her since they had met. "Mr. Jane, I have a question, regarding your previous career path," she asked politely, watching him for a reaction.

"Fire away," he said nodding, his hands still playing with the straw.

"When you met with other psychics, real psychics, did they know you were just pretending?"

"There are no such thing as real psychics," he said quickly. "Only people who know how to manipulate others."

She swallowed a mouthful of chicken and shook her head. "I beg to differ. My cousin Yolanda's a psychic."

Jane smirked and glanced at Lisbon. "Then she's either dishonest of delusional, or both," he said confidently.

Rigsby looked up quickly. "Hey—steady," he snapped towards Jane, who looked back at him unconcerned.

"No, he's entitled to his opinion. He's wrong though. She has power. She can communicate with the other side," Van Pelt said.

"The other side?"

She frowned slightly at his skepticism. "The Kingdom of God is a real place and you have an immortal soul."

"I do so hope your wrong," he said sincerely.

"That's enough, Jane."

Van Pelt's eyes leapt to Lisbon, who was watching the debate with a frown. Jane fell quiet, continuing to play with Lisbon's stolen straw.

For the first time since they met, Grace's eyes from the gold cross around her neck. She swallowed and turned back to her chicken.

Perhaps she and her new boss had more in common than she thought.


	4. Chapter IV: In Which She is Welcomed

**A/N: All characters, cases, and locations belong to Bruno Heller, CBS, and affiliates. This is the last chapter of this little story. I hope you enjoyed Grace's point of view as she joined the team. Thanks for all the responses and comments. I really appreciate them! Until we meet again, CE.**

"I think we should visit the crime scene again."

Grace looked up from her computer in a pair of fresh clothes and a half night of sleep from the day before. "What for?" she asked. "I thought CSU would have recovered everything."

Jane didn't move from his couch and kept reading the book in his hand. "Probably did. I just think we should go. There's something in motion, I can feel it."

Lisbon sighed and Grace heard the jingle of keys in her hand. Jane smiled brilliant and muttered something about his own car as they all climbed into the SUV.

The ride to the crime scene was short and Grace watched the scenery around her race by. "Why CBI?"

Grace jumped slightly in her seat to turn back and look at Lisbon. The Senior Agent's eyes were locked on the road, but Grace knew her attention was fixed on her.

Grace gave her a small smile.

"Umm, I just wanted to get out of Iowa," she said after a moment.

Lisbon's mouth twisted into a half smile. "That's as good a reason as any," she said.

Rigsby began a conversation in the back and Grace only half focused on it, choosing instead to discreetly observe her surroundings as they pulled up to a modest looking farm house.

"The house looks empty boss," Cho announced.

"What exactly are we looking for Jane?" Lisbon asked as they ducked under the police tape.

"I don't kn—"

There was the sound of shattering glass and both Lisbon and Cho had their guns out before Grace could even reach for her Glock.

"Cho, Rigsby going around the back. Van Pelt and I will go this way. Jane, stay behind me."

The two went without question and Van Pelt watched her hands shake slightly with what she knew would come. "Just relax," Lisbon said, nodding towards her newest agent's shaking gun. "It'll be better if you don't shoot any squirrels or bunnies first week on the job."

Grace smiled at that and took a deep breath.

They continued slowly around the house. "Lisbon, I think it would be better if I wait in the car…" Jane began as a large Mexican man raced into view. He raised his gun, pointing at Jane and Lisbon with an iron look in his eyes.

"JANE!"

Lisbon fired one shot for tackling Jane to the ground. The bullet hit the house right where is head had been, splintering the wood.

Lisbon's shot hadn't missed and the man laid unmoving the grass. Van Pelt rushed towards them, kneeling in the grass next to the two as Jane helped Lisbon sit up.

"Lisbon? Lisbon, answer me," Jane snapped, his face pale.

"'M fine," she grumbled sitting up with a frown. Her eyes flickered open, revealing grass green irises.

"No you're not, you were hit."

"Oh my god," Van Pelt said, her fingers red with Lisbon's blood as the wound seeped through Lisbon's shirt.

"It's just a threw and threw," Lisbon said, brushing her hair out of her face.

"What did I tell you about getting me killed, Jane," she grumbled. Grace's hand shook and Lisbon reached out to grab her wrist. "I'm fine, Van Pelt, go and get Cho and Rigsby."

Van Pelt looked at her, clearly shaken, and rose to her feet. She nodded quickly and turned around, moving towards the other side of the house.

"Grace look out!"

Before she could move to Jane's warning, she turned to see Lisbon aiming her gun over her shoulder. Immediately she fell to the ground.

Three more shots echoed into the night and Grace forced her eyes to open. Black spots danced in her vision and when it cleared, Wayne Rigsby was leaning over her.

"Grace? Grace? Are you hit?"

"I—I—" she struggled for words. "No, I'm not hurt." She moved herself into a sitting position, finding her slacks smeared with dirty and grass.

Only a few feet from her was the dead body of the man that had almost killed her. There was blood still seeping from two chest wounds she couldn't see and a red bullet hole protruding from his forehead, right between the eyes. His open and glassy eyes looked out at her, dead.

Rigsby's big hand reached up and turned her face away from the corpse. "Don't focus on that, he said gently. "What happened?"

"The first guy almost shot Jane and Lisbon—LISBON!"

She flew to her feet to almost fall back down. "It's all right, Grace, just relax. Cho is with Lisbon now. She was tapped in the shoulder, but should be all right."

"She saved me. I didn't even think to look for another shooter. How could I be so stupid!" she growled, allowing Rigsby to steady her on her feet. "Where is she?"

"Try to relax. You hit your head on the ground. She's right there, see."

Together they ventured the few feet to where Cho had propped Lisbon against the shed near the house. Her white button up was stained scarlet on the left. Jane was hovering close by as Cho was tying the ripped off sleeve around the wound.

Lisbon seemed calm as Cho spoke quietly to her. "EMT's are on their way, boss," Rigsby called to her as they made it over. "The rest of the perimeter is clear."

"Good. Get Minelli on the phone, would you? He's going to be pissed in the morning when he hears about this. You all right, Van Pelt?"

She opened her mouth, unsure just what to say when the sirens cut her off. The ambulance pulled in followed by another set of police cars.

She allowed the other EMT to fuss over her as she watched Jane and Lisbon. "I do not need to go to the hospital. Just patch me up here. The last thing I need is a trip to the ER," Lisbon snapped to the EMT as he unwound her make shift bandages.

Jane stood behind her, a hand on the stretcher at all times as the EMT cleaned Lisbon's wound.

"Jane?"

"Lisbon?"

"You owe me dinner," she grumbled, massaging her temples with her non-wrapped arm.

Jane's smile was brilliant. "That I do, my dear."

"I still think you need to go to the hospital, ma'am," the EMT tried to persuade as Jane helped Lisbon off the stretcher and towards the car.

"Forget it, I'm fine."

She huffed and turned back towards her team. Grace still had a thick gray blanket on her shoulder, but the EMT tending to her had left after giving her a clean bill of health.

"CSU said they found the ax that killed Josie and her son in the kitchen under the sink. Looks like they were trying to bleach it, but failed to get all the blood off it. Minelli said he was sending a team for the clean up. Go home and get some sleep, you've earned it."

She turned to head towards the cars, when Van Pelt's voice called back to her. "Hey, boss?" She seemed to hesitate for a moment and looked much younger under the shock blanket. "Thanks."

Lisbon gave her a smile and nodded once before calling Jane.

"I'll keep an eye on her," Jane promised, walking towards Lisbon after a wink towards Grace.

"Yeah, be sure you do that," Cho said with a slight frown. He glanced over Jane's shoulder at Lisbon leaning on the car, watching the coroner zip one of the bodies up in a black body bag.

"See you on Monday."

"Bye," Grace echoed after him.

"There's no way I'm letting you drive me home in that death trap you made in your garage, Jane. I can drive better than you with one hand."

Rigsby chuckled as Jane took the keys from Lisbon and their banter continued.

"Honestly woman, you're still grumpy. We caught the guys and solved the case. If one didn't know better, they would think you've been shot or something …"

"He's going to get her killed one day," Cho grumbled under his breath as Grace signed the EMT release form and folded the sheet with potential signs of a concussion on it. She slid it into her pocket, watching Jane's little blue car drive away.

"Probably," Rigsby said after a moment. The three agents slowly moved back towards the car. Grace rode in the passenger seat, watching the scenery pass.

"She knows that, though, and still keeps him. Stop being such a big brother, Cho."

"Why does she keep him if he causes so much trouble?" she asked. Rigsby and Cho exchanged a glance in the mirror.

"Lisbon likes to fix things and Jane … no one else can make him listen like she can. I think she knows she's the only chance he'll ever have."

Grace felt a tear sting in the back of her eyes. To lose his entire family and to feel responsible for it … she couldn't imagine the turmoil in his soul.

"She keeps him human and he makes her smile. It's just how it works," Rigsby said with a shrug.

Van Pelt smiled and leaned her head against the cool glass of the window.

She had seem the "way it worked" even within the few days she had joined the group. The way the two seemed to dance around each other with such fluidity and routine.

Though Lisbon was the one keeping Patrick Jane in line, there was no doubt he'd be in trouble without her, he had invaded his way into her life, leaving red fingerprints on every surface.


End file.
